BETWEEN THE LINES

Saving America in 4 easy steps

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians, and the End of the Age." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union.

According to the national press cartel, the Democratic Party and even a few Republicans, this simple pledge politicians willingly take to impress voters has virtually destroyed representative government, bankrupted Washington and turned otherwise rational politicians into robot-like automotans incapable of rendering sound opinions and crafting responsible budget legislation.

In addition, the author of the “No New Tax Pledge,” Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, has been characterized by advocates of unlimited government as one of the most powerful lobbyists in the country for getting nearly all Republican officeholders on record as supporters of the pledge.

Let me say unequivocally I agree 100 percent with the “No New Tax Pledge,” despite having profound disagreements with Norquist on other issues. But it also needs to be pointed out that simply opposing new taxes is like giving permission to politicians to destroy the Constitution’s commitment to limited government if they can find another way to fund it.

In other words, the only problem with the “No New Tax Pledge” is that it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

That’s why I came up with another simple pledge for Republican House members that, if adopted by as many as have taken the “No New Tax Pledge” just among the House Republican majority, would actually save America from bankruptcy, instantly return the country to constitutionally limited government, effectively end the threat of Obamacare and render Barack Obama impotent to inflict much further harm on the U.S. economy.

And best of all, I honestly believe we can accomplish all this if we can simply get the support of the tea-party movement behind this idea in a focused and serious way through 2012.

How does that sound to you?

There is nothing closer to a magic wand in politics than what I am proposing.

If we stop authorizing more borrowing, government must shrink – dramatically and immediately.

Would you like to know more?

Modeled after the “No New Tax Pledge,” this one promise is so simple and so obvious, it will strike terror into the hearts of those who want to maintain the business-as-usual policies in Washington. And that’s what I like about it most of all. Here it is in its entirety – and it’s called the “No New Red Ink Pledge.”

“I pledge to my constituents and to the American people that I will oppose any and all efforts to allow the federal government to borrow additional money by raising the debt limit, thereby forcing Washington to begin living within its means as taxpayers and their families must do.”

The problem with saying no to taxes but allowing government to borrow whatever it wants without regard to economic realities is that it simply postpones the day of reckoning. It feeds irresponsibility. It fosters the artificial growth of government. It hurts the economy in ways even more sinister and dire than tax increases. It gives excuses to politicians to do an end-run around the unpleasantness of voting for tax increases.

What we’ve got to do is make it just as painful and politically untenable for politicians – especially Republican politicians – to vote for more borrowing as it is to vote for tax increases.

Last summer, Republicans, who owe their control of the House to the tea-party movement, voted overwhelmingly to raise the debt limit once again – handing Obama the hundreds of billions he wanted and needed to continue his policies of economic destruction on America. Only 22 courageous House Republicans bucked the tide and voted no.

Now that Washington has blown through all that new debt in a matter of months, Congress is already faced with a demand from Barack Obama to raise the debt limit again. Because Republicans compromised away their unilateral authority to block another debt limit increase last summer, there is no way to stop the next increase. It’s virtually automatic.

But now is the time to start mobilizing against this insanity for the future.

As step one kicks in, I am going to begin circulating the “No More Red Ink Pledge” to all 240 House Republicans. I will keep you apprised on a regular basis of those who sign the pledge and those who refuse.

We’ll be looking for allies to make this the No. 1 issue of the day in 2012 – organizations, tea-party groups and prominent individuals who will officially embrace the “No More Red Ink Pledge.”

We’ll do our best to ensure that every Republican presidential candidate is forced to take a clear, unambiguous position on future borrowing, not just tax increases.